(The narrative that follows is the work of Mr. Dennis Bilger of Independence, Missouri, an archivist with the Truman Library. It concerns the family branch of John Henry and his lineage in Pennsylvania and Missouri)

 The second branch of Bilgers descended from John Henry Bilger, the second son of Johan Ludwig Bilger. John Henry never left the Philadelphia area and he is buried in the Mennonite cemetery in Upper Shippak Township, Montgomery County. One of his sons, Henry Bilger, moved to the Penn’s Creek area and married Catherine Reedy of Buffalo Cross Roads, near Lewisburg in Union County. She was the eldest daughter of Andrew Reedy who is prominently mentioned in the "Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania" as a strong Democrat and supporter of Andrew Jackson's politics and as the owner of a stone house at Buffalo Cross Roads that is still in existence today. Henry and Catherine Bilger's eldest son, Jesse, was killed at the Battle of Boydton Plank Road also known as 1st Hatcher's Run or 1st Burgess Mill near Petersburg, Virginia on October 27, 1864.

His death occurred as Union forces were attacking, the Confederate forces who held Petersburg, from the south in an attempt to sever the remaining roads and especially the Southside railroad that brought Richmond bound supplies into Petersburg. This was a fierce battle that ended in the defeat of the Union forces that were engaged. But it forced the defending Confederate forces to stretch their already thin lines further west until late March, 1865 when, at the Battle of Five Forks and subsequent attacks, the lines broke which brought about the end of the Civil War in 1865. Jesse Bilger and a cousin, George Isaac Bilger, who was wounded in the same battle, were in the 184th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers under Colonel Charles Kleckner. Jesse Bilger was married to Lucinda Stock of Centreville (now Penn's Creek.) She is buried in  Penn's Creek (see photo below right) and her home is still existing there on Chestnut Street with some additions to the home made around 1900(see photos at left).  While Jesse Bilger is probably buried in the Popular Grove National Cemetery south of Petersburg near where he was killed, there is no record of his burial in the records of the Poplar Grove National Cemetery visited by Alan Bilger in the summer of  1998. Jesse's father, Henry Bilger, who died at the early age of 38 when Jesse was a child, is buried in Washington Township, Snyder County. He died in 1831 and is probably buried in an old abandoned cemetery north of Freeburg, Pennsylvania that my brother, Carl Bilger, and I visited during the summer of 1998. It is difficult to read the grave markers many of which are written in the old German script and covered by earth. Other graves have only a common stone.

The second son of Henry and Catherine Bilger, my great-grandfather, William N. Bilger, moved to Juniata County, Spruce Hill Township, near Reed's Gap and married Margaret Rebecca Harry. They had ten children. After the birth of their first two children, they moved across the Shade Mountain at Reed's Gap to Black Log Valley around the time of the Civil War. While the Bilgers had ten children, the name Bilger was carried on by just two sons, William F. Bilger and John A. Bilger. William F. Bilger and his wife Alice Boetachre Bilger are buried in the cemetery in Black Log Valley as are his parents. John A. Bilger and his wife Effie McClure Bilger moved from Black Log Valley to Mt. Union, Huntingdon County in 1943. They are both buried in Mt. Union. My grand parents were John A. and Effie Alice McClure Bilger. There were ten children in this family and my father, Fred M. Bilger, was the eldest son. Fred M. Bilger married my mother, Mary Louise Mc Crory of Lewistown, Pennsylvania and there were nine children in their family. I am the second son and my brother Carl is the youngest son in our family. I am married to Lois Ruth Yeagle of Richlandtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and we have two sons both living in Kansas City, Missouri, near our home in Independence. I am an archivist, employed by the Harry S. Truman Library since 1970.

I have asked my cousin, Mrs. Lee Fisher of Lewistown, Pennsylvania to write a narrative of the Bilgers of Pennsylvania starting with William N. Bilger and his wife Margaret Rebecca Harry who moved to Black Log Valley around the time of the Civil War. She has a wealth of information including photographs of the later Bilgers and she could add much to the narrative for the internet that I could not possibly get together.

 

Bilger's of the Black Log Valley - Lack Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania
William F(left) ? ? ? Walter (right) Bilger	Upper Black Log Valley School - circa 1908 (Lack Twp, Juniata Co, Penna)	Children of Frederick M Bilger (1962)	First house of William F Bilger (Lack Twp, Juniata Co, Penna)
Charles & Emma     George           Bilger (Bovyel)          Bilger        (sons of William F Bilger)	Hazel (Potts) Bilger John O Bilger (son of William H Bilger)	Frederick M Bilger John O Bilger  Robert N Bilger	Sawmill of Frederick M Bilger Shirley Twp, Huntingdon Co
George Washington Bilger & Laura (Machimer) Bilger (son of William F Bilger)	Children of Frederick M Bilger (1962) (son of John A Bilger)	Children of Frederick M Bilger (Today)	John A Bilger Will Kennedy